the bird within us, which in many great traditions is the symbol of the soul. Whereas Richard and Joan have spoken of the sense of this And Richard and Joan have spoken about this feeling of a great space. part of the practice.

[01:43]

We greet the day in two ways. First with the sense of gratitude for the gift of this day to be alive. In the Sufi tradition there is much emphasis placed upon the privilege of being a human being. So there is the moment of the gratitude for the day and the gratitude for one's life as human being.

[02:51]

And finally, Hazrat Inayat Khan spoke of life as opportunity. So as we begin the day, to meet it with a heart that's open to the opportunity that each this day will bring. The opportunities to experience life in ways that will never be repeated again. Amen.

[05:41]

Amen. Amen. We could just begin with a few moments of silence. And if you'd like to sigh, you're welcome to sigh.

[06:46]

When I first closed my eyes, I had to smile because I heard, maybe Joan and Richard remember this old song, there's been a change in the weather. And first it made me smile, but second of all, I suspect that the change in the weather also is reflective of us being in a kind of new part of our journey together. Zuerst habe ich gelächelt, aber dann ist mir auch deutlich geworden, dass es auch reflektiert, dass wir in einen neuen Abschnitt unserer Reise eingetreten sind. So if you bear with me for a few moments, I'd like to kind of weave together some pieces.

[08:37]

Last year I saw the movie The Little Buddha. Many of you may have seen it. And the thing that most moved me about the movie was one line in it, actually. And that's when the teacher who has been searching for the reincarnation of his teacher, says to the three children who he has found that represent different aspects of his teacher. He says, what is the most important beyond all of what has happened and all of what will happen is that you pass the teachings on.

[09:40]

And that moment or that comment in the movie was for me a kind of awakening. And perhaps it was in part awakening because it also coincided with my turning 50. And... Well, let us say the meaning of that line went straight to my heart. And as I've... approached 50, I've been increasingly aware of how much life or God, or as Richard would say, the world has invested in me.

[11:01]

How much the world and life has invested in each one of us. And in that moment in the movie came the awareness that with all of that incredible investment that takes kind of years of maturation, That the fulfillment of that comes in the passing on of it. As Richard spoke about his grandson this morning, the sense of passing on.

[12:12]

So I would like to echo Richard's sense of gratitude this morning and just say for myself, I'm profoundly grateful to each of you because speaking for myself, our coming together has created the opportunity for me to pass on what I have received. And that's a passing on of a teaching, but it's also in a certain sense a passing on of the beings who gave it to me. Whether they thought of themselves as teachers or not.

[13:13]

The other thing I would just like to do is to share my own personal response to Richard's presentation this morning. And at the very end of his presentation you may remember that he said something like, that is the practice of Buddhism. And perhaps the best way I could express how I felt at that moment is in those wonderful moments in life where you have perhaps experienced a great work of art, like an orchestra playing profound piece of music.

[14:31]

And as you listen to the piece of music, it evokes from you the corresponding experience and depth in your own being and you journey through the different passages in the piece of music. And then there comes a moment where the last note is played and it's the moment between the ending of the last moment and before people clap or respond. And for me, in that moment, it's as if it is, in my experience, the totality of the work of art is completely held from beginning to end in all its aspects.

[15:35]

in that moment. So my own experience is I felt like Richard played for us the music of Zen Buddhism and in the final comment as he said, that is, it was all there. And the other thing that I'd like to just express my appreciation to Richard is his act of generosity because he in response to the talk I gave the day before, presented it in a context that made it so accessible from the Sufi perspective.

[17:07]

And then I would also like to express my gratitude to Richard for this act of generosity. In the way in which he presented, he was very much involved in my lecture and therefore made his lecture very accessible and very understandable from the Sufi perspective. On the way here I was re-reading some Shamsin, some Rumi poetry. And I also was re-reading about their relationship. And one thing it said that they often used to spend a period of time, sometimes several months together, kind of in retreat.

[18:15]

So I was kind of wondering, what did they do? But I felt this morning a kind of insight into that, because in Richard's presentation I felt that yesterday I had been so deeply heard, and today I have been so deeply responded to. I found an answer to that, because yesterday I felt so deeply heard, and now I have received an answer. And in the response so deeply given to, so deeply fed, so now I imagine that what they did during that period is this very deep dialogue in which there is the capacity to truly hear the other

[19:33]

and to truly respond back and forth. And also, I want to take the opportunity to thank Joan for two things. One is, for me, the heart has been a central focus for well over 20 years. And I've thought of the heart in many ways. But I've never thought of it as big and moist.

[20:40]

Especially the moist part. And it seems to me the big, moist heart is particularly feminine. So I feel a kind of deep exchange that I've shared with you the sofa and you've shared with me the moist heart. And to truly say that the moist heart is really now a part of me. I'll carry it. I also want to thank Joan for bringing death among us. In my own journey, I'm particularly concerned that spirituality be whole.

[21:46]

And the bringing of death among us makes our presence here a greater sense of the whole. And although Joan shared deeply about the death of two particular friends, for myself, I feel what she did is to actually make both of those men or bring the livingness of both of those men into each of us. So although on one hand she spoke about death, on the other hand what she gave us, based on my experience, is the life of those two men.

[23:12]

I now find that they're in me, they're a part of my journey. So I feel in some of the wholeness that she's brought is in bringing death here. She has given the gift of life. So I feel in some of the wholeness that she's brought is in bringing death here. She has given the gift of life. And also in the way here I was particularly struck by a poem of Rumi about death. And I'd like to share it. On the day I die, when I'm being carried toward the grave, Don't weep.

[24:18]

Don't say, he's gone, he's gone. Death has nothing to do with going away. The sun sets and the moon sets, but they're not gone. Death is a coming together. The tomb looks like a prison, but it's really release into union. The human seed goes down in the ground like a bucket into the well where Joseph is. It grows and comes up full of some unimagined beauty. Your mouth closes here and immediately opens with a shout of joy there.

[25:34]

So I'll just read it again and I'll do an English line and Ajale will do the German. On the day when I die, when I'm being carried toward the grave, don't weep. Don't say, he's gone, he's gone. Death has nothing to do with going away. Sage nicht, er ist von uns gegangen, er ist gegangen. Der Tod hat nichts mit weggehen zu tun. The sun sets and the moon sets, but they're not gone. Die Sonne geht unter und der Mond geht unter, aber sie sind nicht gegangen.

[26:42]

Death is a coming together The tomb looks like a prison, but it's really release into union. The human seed goes down in the ground Der menschliche Samen wird in den Grund gelegt. Like a bucket into a well where Joseph is. Wie ein Eimer in den Brunnen wo Joseph ist. It grows and comes up full. Er wächst und kommt in ganzer Fülle nach oben. Of some unimagined beauty.

[27:45]

erfüllt von unglaublicher Schönheit. Your mouth closes here, dein Mund schließt sich hier and immediately opens und öffnet sich sofort wieder with a shout of joy there. mit einem Schrei, mit einem Aufschrei der Freude. I'd like to take the rest of our time together to offer a practice that may be a way of taking some of the themes that I've spoken about and integrating them in a way that you can carry home with you. Because often people ask the question, how do I take with me what's been experienced here?

[28:49]

So this is a kind of, practice is a kind of framework in which to carry some of the things that have been shared. So the first part of the practice, and this practice involves a movement of the head. We'll make a circular movement with our head. And what's important about the movement is not the movement itself, but the feeling or the attitude that we bring to the movement. Because the theme of this practice is the awareness of one's heart as the shrine or the temple or the church in which the divine presence can be found.

[30:16]

So as we make the circle, we will be circumambulating the heart, just as Richard mentioned, that one can circumambulate the statue of Kuan Yin in the Peace Park. And as we encircle the heart, what we bring to the movement is the awareness that we are circumambulating the holy of holies. And so, as the movement is done, it's the sense of encircling the sacred. We make the movement in the consciousness to encircle the sacred.

[31:32]

with the attitude of the deepest reverence toward one's own heart. So Richard this morning was speaking of our having the confidence to accept the Buddha nature within us. And this is very similar. It has to come out of the willingness to approach one's heart as sacred ground. And one could say that the heart is, from the Sufi viewpoint, the sacred ground, and then what the practice amplifies is the conscious building of a temple there. So each of us in our own rhythm you can make the circular movement with your head and the rhythm of it

[33:13]

should be determined by one's capacity to hold that sacred feeling. You Continue to circumambulate the heart. You may want to add to it the prayer or the chant that is most deeply meaningful to you. So one person may, as they circumambulate the heart, inwardly recite the Heart Sutra.

[34:42]

And another among us may want to inwardly repeat the chant Om Madne Padme Hum. The Christe Eleison, the Kyrie Eleison of the Lord's Prayer. Or the Zikr, whatever is the kind of root prayer or root chant one inwardly recites it as you circumambulate the heart. So that in addition to circumambulating the heart, one is making a pilgrimage to the heart.

[36:11]

You are ready, and don't rush the practice. You may want to continue doing this phase of it. When you are ready, gradually bow your head toward the direction of your heart. And when the head is bowed, it is like the moment of prostration. Or in the Sufi tradition, the moment of surrender. that at that moment, in a sense, one stands in the doorway to the heart, and out of a deep sense of reverence, prostrates and empties oneself out.

[38:33]

And in the same act of emptying out, one offers oneself as a gift to the heart, as one would offer a flower to the altar. The only offering we can bring to the altar of the heart, is ourself.

[39:37]

So it is our gift to the divine. And in that act of prostration or surrender, if there's a prayer or a phrase or a sound or a piece of music that somehow embodies that state for you, Let that unfold and be a part of the experience of surrender.

[40:54]

Contemplating yourself is the gift that you have to offer to the divinity of the heart. That the gift of your being may reveal itself, its deeper nature, through a sacred image or symbol. Vielleicht offenbart sich die Bedeutung dieser Gabe, die tiefe Natur dieser Gabe in einem Symbol. And that one consciously places that sacred image on the altar as representing the offering of one's deepest self. The imagery from the Christian mass You may want to contemplate the bread and wine on the altar of your heart.

[42:47]

Bread and wine represent the wine your deepest longing. And the bread your greatest need. And we bring those to the altar of the heart as one would bring the bread and wine. And as the priest or priestess of our own being, we spend a few moments sipping the wine tasting our deepest longing. And eating of the bread, allowing ourselves to experience the depth of our greatest need.

[44:21]

and to eat from the bread and to fulfill the greatest need in us. And as it happens in the Mass, the chalice with the wine and the bread is lifted up and shown. Realizing that they carry us to the very depth of our vision, and above what the Sufis speak of as the passion with God, passion for the Divine.

[45:45]

Just as in the Mass the bread and wine is the moment of deep offering transformed into the body and blood of Christ. In the moment of consecration within our own heart, the deepest longing and the deepest need is responded to, and God becomes the answer to our longing and our need. So in this moment of offering, our desire and our greatest need will be answered. So this is what we experienced and explored yesterday as the God ideal being the divine response to our longing.

[47:25]

So the chalice of the heart, which has held the wine of longing, then becomes the sacred container for the divine response. It is said that those who drink of the Holy Grail, their deepest wishes often those unknown to them are fulfilled. So from a Sufi perspective, God is the divine presence that we partake of in the communion that arises out of the chalice of the heart of the grandfather.

[49:15]

And that may come as Richard so beautifully rendered as the presence of Kuan Yin responding to the sighs of the worldly knots. Or the presence of Cosmic Christ In the words, come unto me, all ye who are laden and heavily burdened.

[50:29]

Or who, from the communion of the zikr, the Sufi tradition, But it will come in a particularly meaningful way to each of us. It will come to us in a way that is particularly important for each individual among us. A pilgrimage of the sigh that's the divine inhalation.

[52:01]

That arises out of our longing and our nostalgia. To commune in the depth of our being. To commune in the depth of our being. Remember the sigh of the divine exaltation. And from the Sufi perspective, the yearning, the longing of God to be made a reality through us.

[53:03]

And the divine breath, compassion toward us is the gift of our being. And our gift of compassion to God is the bringing into life the qualities of the divine being. So the final moments of the practice are like the one through having worship then begins to leave the temple and re-enter.

[54:29]

But now brings the sacred presence, which is the very center of the temple, into life. In fact, one becomes the temple and carries it with one. So we'll have some moments to contemplate from the temple of your own heart What aspect of the Divine Presence do you bring forth into life?

[55:32]

And the sense of the awareness of carrying the Divine Presence wherever one is. My presence is given to all in which you give your heart. Bibi. As Richard mentioned this morning about the vows, there's an inner vow spoken of in Sufism.

[57:00]

And it's a vow to that divine presence in our heart a vow to bring it and to carry it and pour forth it into life wherever we are. which is ultimately a vow to be true to oneself. Welcome to sigh, if you like to. So we will take our break now and we will come back in a quarter of an hour.

[58:54]

We'll begin this morning with an extended period of silence. In our final few moments of this morning's meditation, we could reflect upon one of the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh. If we could use the rest of this meditation today, And he speaks of the spiritual practice or the way of life of watering the good or wise or beautiful seeds within us.

[61:06]

So as we are with the rain, if we can reflect upon what are the seeds within us and how and with what can we water them. können wir darüber reflektieren, welche andere Samen es in uns gibt, die Bewässerung brauchen und was sie brauchen zum Wachsen, zum Wässern. Another half to the meditation.

[63:00]

To look inside of ourself and see where the dry, parched, barren parts of our being or our life And let the rain Remind us of what can be brought to those dry and parched areas that can make that a fertile part of our being.

[63:52]

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